PKR secretary-general Fuziah Salleh has confirmed that investment, trade and industry minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz has become a member of the party.
Fuziah told FMT briefly that Tengku Zafrul’s application to join the Pakatan Harapan party was approved by the central leadership council when it met on July 26.
Yesterday, Bernama quoted Tengku Zafrul as confirming that he had become a member of PKR‘s Ampang division.
The senator had announced his resignation from Umno on May 30, thus relinquishing his positions as an Umno Supreme Council member and Kota Raja Umno chief.
Tengku Zafrul had been an Umno member since 1997 but was widely seen as a technocrat when appointed as finance minister in Muhyiddin Yassin’s Cabinet in March 2020, a role he retained in Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s government.
His membership in Umno only came to light in the lead-up to the 2022 general election when he was named as the Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate for the Kuala Selangor parliamentary seat, which he lost.
He resigned as Selangor Umno treasurer in April last year, citing resistance to positive change, before speculation of his exit from Umno started swirling in December.
HIs second and final term as senator expires at the end of the year, after which he will have to step down as trade minister.
